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North American Football League
The North American Football League '('NAFL) is a semi-professional American football league composed of 40 teams divided equally between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The NAFL runs a 20-week regular season from the week before Labor Day to the week after Christmas, with each team playing eighteen games and having two bye weeks. Out of the league's 40 teams, eight (four division winner and four runner-up teams) from each conference compete in the NAFL playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Mega Bowl, played between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences. The NAFL was founded on August 20, 1973 as The New United States Football League before changing its name in 1978 and 2009. Out of the league's 40 current teams, only seven have won at least one NAFL championship. The current champions are the Tampa Bay SwordFish who defeated the Houston Cyclone 27-23 in Mega Bowl XLV to win their fourth title. For a more in depth list of champions, please see List of NAFL Champions. League history The league was formed following a major scandal in United States Football during the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Four team owners got together and announced they would be forming a new football league in 1973 which would be named the North American Football League. The league included the initial franchises of Toronto Toros, Minnesota Timbers, Houston Cyclone, and Florida SwordFish. In 1975, the league expanded to eight total teams, adding the Boston Braves, Springfield Astros, Richmond Mustangs, and Georgia Sweets. In 1980, the league expanded to 10 teams after adding the Juneau Whalers and the Randall City Reign. In 1983, the league contracted for the first time going from ten to eight teams. The Springfield Astros and Georgia Sweets folded following the 1982 season. In 1988, the league returned to ten teams after adding the Charlotte Speedsters and Portland Cougars. In 1995, the league expanded to 12 teams after adding the New York All-Stars and Vancouver Cubs. In 2002, the league expanded to 16 teams after adding the Montreal Metropolitans, San Francisco Inmates, Texas LoneStars and Windy City Windmills. In 2005, the league expanded to 20 teams after adding the Arizona Sidewinders, Atlanta Attack, Detroit Fusion and Winnipeg Wendigos. In 2009, the Alaska Miners folded following the 2008 season but were replaced with the Albuquerque Broncos, Guadalajara Chivas, Los Angeles Rams, Las Vegas 21s and Mexico City Aztecs. The Braves moved to Denver. In 2012, the league expanded to 28 teams after adding the Boston Revolution and Utah Galaxy. In 2016 the league expanded to 30 teams with the return of the Juneau Whalers and expansion franchises in Tijuana, Edmonton, and Billings. Following the 2017 season all three Mexican franchises (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Tijuana) announced they would be with-drawing from the NAFL in protest of US President Donald Drumpf. They will all join the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional in 2019. On April 13, 2019 the NAFL announced they had acquired the licenses of the eight members of the failed Alliance of American Football (AAF) and would fold those teams into the 2019-20 season. The league will add the Atlanta Legends (merging with the Atlanta Attack), Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, Orlando Apollos, Arizona Hotshots (merging with the Arizona Sidewinders), Salt Lake Stallions (merging with the Utah Galaxy), San Antonio Commanders and San Diego Fleet for a total of 32 teams. In February 2020, just weeks before the United States Football League season would kickoff it was announced that the league was ceasing all operations and that the 12 teams will be released as independents free to schedule their own matchups. Most of the teams petioned to join the North American Football League for the upcoming 2020-21 season and eight teams were accepted into the NAFL bringing the league total to 40 teams. League logos imageedit_5_6554008826.png|"Original 6" logo (1973-1979) imageedit_11_9253471236.png|1980-1995 imageedit_41_4012987256.png|1996-2011 NAFL.png|2012-2018 imageedit_35_4746208205.png|"Unified logo" (2019-present) Current teams Former teams *Alaska Miners - 1978-2008 (folded) *Boston Braves - 1975-2008 (relocated; became the Denver Braves) *Florida SwordFish - 1973-2008 (relocated; became the Tampa Bay SwordFish) *Georgia Sweets - 1975-1982 (folded) *Guadalajara Chivas - 2013-2017 (left for the LFA) *Mexico City Aztecs - 2011-2017 (left for the LFA) *Springfield Astros - 1975-1982 (folded) *Tijuana Fire - 2016-17 (left for the LFA) *San Antonio Commanders - 2019-20 (folded)